The Power of the Law
In the interest of more information, I decided to do some research on the current legal state of hand-drawn depictions of child pornography-- including lolicon and shotacon manga/anime --around the globe. It was simply impractical to cover every country ever, so I selected the 10 countries that cover the vast majority of Anime Vice users. (To those of you whose home countries aren't included here: feel free to share your thoughts-- or your country's laws --in the comments!)
Before I begin: I am not a lawyer. The following information is the most accurate that I could find and confirm, and I acquired most of it through the Library of Congress's Children's Rights page. If you have any additions, updates, or corrections to any of the following info, please let me know!
Without further ado...
1. The United States
The current law, part of the PROTECT Act of 2003 (aka the Amber Alert law), states that possession and/or transfer of hand-drawn depictions of minors in sexual situations that are also obscene-- prurient, patently offensive, and lacking in any serious value as viewed by the average person --is illegal. The only person convicted under this statute ONLY for hand-drawn depictions since it was enacted is Christopher Handley, who pleaded guilty to the charges. However, a similar law was thrown out by the Supreme Court in the past, so whether this law would withstand the Court's examination is unclear.
2. Canada
Currently, any visual or written depiction of sexual activity by real or imaginary minors (under 18) are illegal, unless an artistic, educational, scientific, or medical justification is accepted by the court. Child pornography is an "offence tending to corrupt morals" under the Canadian criminal code. In 2005, an Alberta man was arrested for importing manga magazines depicting child sexuality. The man, Gordon Tshun Chin, claimed he did not know it was illegal and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, counseling, and he was barred from using the Internet for 18 months and was added to the national sex offenders list-- but the latter was because he had previously been charged with child molestation.
3. The United Kingdom
In 1978, the Protection of Children Act made child pornography illegal, and the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 added on that a "pseudo-photograph" is also illegal. In 2009, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 made all sexual images depicting minors-- regardless of whether they were derived from photographs or pseudo-photographs --illegal to possess. "Sexual images" are here defined as depictions of minors participating in sexual activities or sexual activities taking place in the presence of those under 18. This law passed in 2009 and went into effect on April 6, 2010.
4. The Philippines
In 2003, the Philippines signed the United Nations Optional Protocal to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, making child pornography a crime. In November of 2009 a harsher law, the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, was signed. This law covers "any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of a child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities." The definition of "child" explicitly includes any computer-generated, digitally, or manually crafted image of a person who is or is made to appear to be a child. The Philippines have had trouble in the past with child pornography and prostitution; it remains to be seen how much they will devote resources to fictional child pornography.
5. Germany
Germany's child pornography laws include images of real and fictional people under the age of 18, or who appear to be under 18 to the "average viewer." Distribution of such materials are prohibited although possession is only criminal if the materials depict a real person under 18.
6. Brazil
From my research, Brazil has not yet established case law or statutory law covering virtual child pornography at this time. As it stands, pornography featuring children is illegal.
7. France
France is a signatory nation of the aforementioned Optional Protocal to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which does not specify any stance on hand-drawn or virtual child pornography.
8. Indonesia
Pornography of any kind is illegal in Indonesia.
9. Mexico
Mexico is also a signatory nation on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and child pornography is illegal, but no specific references to simulated or drawn child pornography are made in its laws.
10. Australia
Australia has a zero-tolerance policy for child pornography, and their laws include fictional children as well as real ones. In 2007 an Australian man was fined $9,000 for importing eight hentai DVDs; he had no "real" kiddy porn. In 2008, New South Wales Supreme Court judge Justice Michael Adams famously said that "...a fictional cartoon character, even one which departs from recognizable human forms in some significant respects, may nevertheless be the depiction of a person within the meaning of the Act." Writer Neil Gaiman followed up by suggesting that Australia had just granted human rights to all cartoon characters. More recently, Australia's Classification Board declared that they will no longer classify adult films that feature small (A-cup) breasts as they may encourage pedophilia.That said-- are you surprised by who bans (or doesn't ban) what?
I more or less guessed most of these except for Indonesia, where I thought the exact opposite would be true. That last line in Australia, though, made me laugh.
I like to think that the Australian small-breast ban will force all male porn stars in Australia wear a carnival sign on their belt that says "You must be this tall to ride this junk."
Seriously, make these people read Crumb's Book of Genesis and see what the Bible really says. (Amusingly, that comic would be banned in a number of the above countries, simply for showing what Genesis is saying.)
Well, thankfully I don't plan on living in any of those other countries (I'm American). I feel Britain's law is a bunch of junk. The US portrays itself as being accepting of many ideas and cultures and is yet trying to kill the mixing of Japan and America. My parents work for the DOC and I feel that even though they, and I, detest pedophiles and rapists I have presented a good enough argument as to why the current issue is completely overblown. Hentai is perfectly fine to me and I prefer the manga to the anime. Images are images and do not harm anyone. Also, the material has creative quality and someone came up with short or long stories that have characters that think about love and change and happiness. Look at porn, do you see anything close to a legit storyline or anything else that stimulates the mind and body instead of just the body? Despite whatever laws are around or to be created, I will continue with my otaku life and collect whatever interests me. If the US gets a law the Britain then I will defy it. I feel Handley got screwed and most of the media is being biased and it pisses me off.
@ Gia
But United States is made of 50 states and some those state have laws when this stuff has well.
http://www.digitalmedialawyerblog.com/2009/11/us_v_kilbride_9th_circuits_hol.html
So the issue is more complex in the United States then it comes to state and federal law than anywere else around the world.
I'm from the state of Arizona and this is law when it come's to what it deams obscene.
I just wanted you to say that United States is different in that this issue effects state and fed laws and you just did.
I personally don't believe anything I own could get me in trouble with the law, but the Protect Act seems to argue otherwise. =\
"Pornography of any kind is illegal in Indonesia."
LULZ. That sounds healthy.
As long as some common sense is applied by all, it should work out okay.
Which is why I am worried lol.
As for the US and it's open mindedness.... you have no idea how open it is. In many if not most countries in this world even basic crimes carry stiff penalty, lest we forget during the Bill Clinton admisistration I believe Singapore caned a American Tourist around 10-12 times simply for vandalism while in America he would have gotten 100 hours of community service (or less) and a small fine. Many video games or Anime an American can just walk into a mall and buy takes trips to special import stores, ID's, excessive taxes and royalties, and any other hassle you can imagine if you buy it in Australia. You really don't know how good you have it if you live in the US, in fact I honestly believe it is too good but that is a thought for another day.
PS: Nice post Gia, good read and nice to see you put a clear and fair look at these laws out there.
That said, there IS a distinction between child pornography and lolicon: the former is illegal because a child is harmed in its actual creation. This isn't true in the latter. Lacking any strong evidence that lolicon or other hand-drawn materials "cause" people to harm children, why should this particular version of ink on paper be banned?
Less loli = better.
It kind of funny that not one of those country take the exact same approach to the question and I don't understand how someone can come up with the idea of banning small breast but hey it not like exageration from certain people was anything new.